Nipping?

[Eleanorld]

My two girls were fine when they were slightly younger but now one doesn’t like to sleep next to the other in the same house, so they’ll have a little tussle n squeal in the house and one will run out. Nothing really happens they just figure out who’s going to sleep in the house. Now they’re bigger they can do more harm to each other, I was doing my last check on them before bed and my eldest (4 months) looked like the fur on her head wasn’t sitting right and possibly even wet..
Right now they both live in a plastic cage (on the small side), they’re going into boarding tomorrow until the 4th August so we can revamp their house - getting them a big hutch! It may just be that one is territorial about the house and when they go into the bigger hutch the problem will fix itself with more places to “claim”

A ball they like to play with was under the water so it could’ve been that or it could’ve been a nip from the other. Is that normal to nip on the head?
(I couldn’t tell if it was water or blood, she ran off before I could grab her. Though she has a white streak and that wasn’t red or anything)

 

[Siikibam]

Do they only have the one house in the cage? You need to give them at least two. Piggies don’t sleep cuddled up or in the same house in most cases. And it sounds like the top pig is wanting to sleep in there - they have pick of the hides, bottles etc. Make sure you also have two of everything else. In the meantime have a read of the threads linked below. Whenever you’re dealing with them, you have to maintain their hierarchy.

They’re in their teenage months as well now when they will sometimes be a little ‘hormonal’ for want of a better phrase. And living in a small cage also doesn’t help.
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
" Biting" And What You Can Do (Biting, Tweaking, Nibbling and Nipping)
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs

 

[Eleanorld]

They have about 3 or 4 places to hide/sleep it’s just one likes a cuddle n the other doesn’t xD
I mean the cage isn’t small it’s just on the small side I think it’s about 1m x 70cm ish

 

[Siikibam]

It is on the small side. Hopefully they will sort it out.

 

[Piggies&buns]

The dominant will always get the pick of the best house, it doesn’t matter how much space they have it’ll always be that
way!
It’s good you’re getting them a bigger hutch as the cage is a little on the small side. When you move them into their new hutch, use some of their current bedding as that way the new hutch will still smell like them and it makes the transition a little bit easier.

 

[Eleanorld]

Yeah I'm going to bag up the clean bedding and sprinkle it over the new one, the new hutch is about double the size and has 2 floors so plenty of room xD

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yeah I'm going to bag up the clean bedding and sprinkle it over the new one, the new hutch is about double the size and has 2 floors so plenty of room xD

Great - as long as the bottom level is bigger then they will love that! (Upper levels don’t get added to or increase the cage size).
Let us know how they settle in!

 

[Eleanorld]

I suppose it does have more floor space as the second level because there's not a hole for the ramp, but I will definitely put some pictures up when they're back and in it!